


All Around Me

by mercurybard



Category: The Covenant (2006)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-13
Updated: 2010-09-13
Packaged: 2017-10-11 19:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/116149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mercurybard/pseuds/mercurybard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabble series based on the Flyleaf song "All Around Me"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. My Hands Are Searching For You

Tyler felt his blood throb with the pulse of the bass blaring far below. The annual Spenser party at the Dells was well underway. But it hadn't started, he thought with a small smile, not really. How could it when he and his buddies were still up here on this cliff, waiting for the last of their number to get done with Family Dinner? Once Reid got here, they'd be four, and then it'd be time to get the party started.

The fog and the night brushed against his face. A spattering of rain had coated his clothes with droplets that glittered when the Marblehead lighthouse's beam swung their way. It was a cold New England fall night, but he was dressed for it. He reveled in it. This land was in his bones, and the magic and the music were in his blood. Only his skin itched, making him feel somehow…unfulfilled. He'd felt this way since summer, but before he'd always blamed it on being so close to Ascension. Now, half-listening to Pogue and Caleb chatter, he began to wonder if maybe Reid was right. Maybe he just needed to find someone to help him scratch this itch.

He was still wondering why he'd taken the problem to Reid in the first place.


	2. Thickening the Air I'm Breathing

The steam from the shower was almost suffocating as Sarah rinsed off. She'd cranked it way too high and could practically feel her heart slowing in the heat. Breathing was getting difficult. But she'd stumbled in here desperate to get warm. Wearing such a skimpy shirt to the party out at the Dells hadn't been the brightest thing she'd ever done, and she was still reconsidering her decision not to wear jeans.

Still, she'd dressed that way to get attention, and that she'd gotten plenty of. Not one but two very cute boys had been checking her out, or so Kate had said. A smile spread across her lips as she thought back to meeting the so-called Sons of Ipswich. The party hadn't come alive—not really—until the four of them had come down out of the fog. Cocky, "bad boy" Reid who claimed she reminded him of her grandmother. And then there was Caleb Danvers with those big, brown eyes. A good guy too, according to Kate. Thinking about those eyes on her made her shiver, in spite of the heat.

Something made her pause, drawing her attention back to the bathroom. A shattering noise made her jump, and suddenly the room seemed darker. There was a breath of air across the small of her back, and it felt—inexplicably—like there was someone else in the room. Had someone come in while she was lost in thought?

Her cheeks flushed warm as she wrapped her towel around herself. Serve her right if someone caught her thinking pervy thoughts about Caleb Danvers. Though how they would know just by looking at her…

There was another stir of air, and a noise that wasn't really a noise but made her skin prickle nonetheless. It reminded her of the way her old hound dog, Bastion, had acted when a storm was rolling in back in Boston. "Getting his hackles up" was how her dad used to describe it.

No one at the sink, no one in the toilet stalls, no one in the bathroom at all. Just her and a broken light bulb in the middle of the cold tile floor. Her shower hadn't been hot enough to fill the bathroom with steam, and Sarah felt herself rapidly cooling again. That's why her hand was shaking, she told herself as she picked up a piece of the bulb. It had nothing to do with the way her skin was crawling.


	3. My Hands Float Up Above Me

He was back at the Dells, but the woods were empty—no kids, no cops, no nothing except him tearing through the fog. Something was chasing him, and Tyler was fleeing from it even as he raced towards something else, unseen up ahead.

His body acknowledged that the sun had already crawled past noon, but his mind refused to rouse. He had to get away from the whatever. In the dream, his foot caught on a root, spilling him onto the damp floor of the forest. A rock scraped across his chin as he hit the ground, and when he touched a hand to the wound, it came back covered in phantom blood.

A great crashing from the darkness beneath the trees behind him made his head shoot up as adrenaline pumped through him. Time to stop running, he told himself, and felt his eyes go black as the Power poured through him. Time to stop and face what was coming.

It drew up sharp, a thing of darkness and shadow, lurking just out of sight. It was amused by Tyler's stance—he could almost feel its laughter ripple across his skin. "You stopped," it chuckled in a voice that echoed off the trees, "That wasn't very smart. Though, if you'd kept running, I still would have caught you. Eventually."

Then it reached out with Power—just like Tyler's—and lightning exploded in front of his eyes. He screaming…screaming as Power ripped through him, playing every nerve ending like the strings of a harp until each molecule of him vibrated with pain.

"Tyler!"

He came awake still screaming, flailing as he tried to fight off the arms attempting to restrain him. Still blind with pain and sleep, he fell off the bed and landed on the wood floor with a thump, tangled in the bedclothes.

"Jesus, Tyler, what the hell's wrong?" It was Reid, he realized as his friend vaulted the bed and crouched down beside him.

"Nightmare," Tyler lied, knowing it had been much more than that. The pain was gone, but a feeling of unease remained. He was shaking, he realized, raising his hands to look at his trembling fingers. There were crescent cuts on the palms of both hands from clutching his fists too tight, and they were starting to sting.

Reid wrapped an arm around his shoulders and tucked him in close, like he'd done once before—years ago at summer camp, the night Tyler learned his father had given up battle with the Power and taken his own life. Tyler had been only thirteen and a scrawny thirteen at that, and suddenly, he was the head and master of the Simms household. He'd been so scared then…but that fear couldn't hold a candle to what he'd just experienced.


	4. And I Begin to Fade

They'd gone to a small market to buy a certain kind of blackberry jam that his mother liked, and now they were driving through the New England countryside. Caleb had put the top down on the Mustang—Sarah couldn't help but smile at the feel of the wind in her hair.

Their day together had started off great, but the farther they wound their way along back roads, the more depressed Caleb grew. His brown eyes—always so serious even when he was laughing—lost their sparkle around the time they crossed over an old stone bridge. By the time when he pointed out the old Putnam barn, the depression had become a physical force in the car.

At first, she'd thought it was something she had said. Maybe over the course of their afternoon together, Caleb had decided she really wasn't all that interesting. He was just too nice to toss her out of his car. So, she'd forced a smile and made inane conversation about the beauty of the scenery.

But it wasn't her. It was something else draining the cheer from his laugh and smoothing the laugh crinkles in the corners of his eyes. It was the history of this place, she decided as he eased the car up to a stop in front of an old, ramshackled house. The history was smothering him.


	5. I'm Alive, I'm Alive

Like Tyler would whine later, it was wrong to use your Power against another member of the Covenant, but at that particular moment, Reid didn't care. He wanted to crush Caleb's wrist with his hand—force him to stop being such a pansy and defend himself.

When Caleb smacked him into the wall of the building next to Nicky's, Reid almost crowed with triumph. The guy needed to let go more often. What good was being given this awesome gift if you never used it?

Tapping even farther into the Power, he levitated a keg a few feet off the ground. Everything came so easy for Caleb—grades, girls, even using. There were times when Reid had to admit to himself that he was jealous. But, he decided as he hurled the empty keg at the other guy's head, he'd miss him if Caleb suddenly disappeared out of his life.

The keg was deflected easily, and then Caleb retaliated, sending Reid sailing through the air into a stack of empty bottles. Glass shattered all around him in tiny, sparkling, colored shards. For a second, he was surrounded by a glittering cloud, protected from harm by a hastily throw-up shield.

Thrown up by Caleb, not by him.


	6. My Arms Are Outstretched Towards You

It was a relief when Reid finally showed up, only to dive off the cliff and into the mist below. Tyler's breath caught in his throat, even as he felt Reid reach out to the Power to slow his fall and turn what should have been a suicidal leap into a spectacular entrance. Not that anyone but the three of them would get to see it, but did it really matter?

He went next, spinning around as he left the cliff to look back at Caleb and Pogue. "Will you catch me?" he wanted to shout as he hurtled down through the cold night air, but he let the dare die on his lips.


	7. My Tongue Dances Behind My Lips

There she was, Pogue thought as he caught sight of Kate across the crowd. The blonde she was talking to was just an afterthought in the corner of his vision as he wrapped his arms around his girl. They'd been on-and-off all month…again, but tonight, he was tired of all the bullshit. He just wanted to hold her for a while and sway to the ramped up music as the rest of their classmates partied around them. He wanted to kiss her until they were both breathless, savoring the taste of whiskey on her tongue.

But that would mean getting her to stand still and shut-up, both of which were miraculous tasks. He'd never cheated and used the Power on her, but nights like this when he wanted peace and she wanted to be the proverbial wild child, he was tempted. Oh, so tempted.


	8. This Fire Rising Through My Being

After mandatory Family Dinner—after hearing his grandmother dementedly mutter about the days when Richard Garwin IV was still alive, before he let the Power drain him to a husk—Reid needed to get very, very drunk and dance and maybe, if he were lucky, screw. The old woman was a leech who latched on to him every time he went home, draining the life right out of him with her memories and her warnings and her randomly shed tears. Somehow, he'd ended up with her fair hair and his mother's eyes, but that didn't stop her from comparing him to his father and grandfather over and over again until he wanted to puke.

But enough of that—now was the time to party, and he saw a pretty little thing near Kate who looked like just his type. He didn't recognize her face. Must be new, and for a moment Reid wondered from where she hailed. But then he noticed the way her jean skirt hung, revealing the start of the smooth downward curve of her hipbones, and suddenly he didn't care if she was from Timbuktu.

She'd look even prettier on her back in the backseat of Tyler's truck. Tacky, yes, but what choice did he have since the state of Massachusetts took away his license and his grandmother his car? If the family driver hadn't been willing to drop him off on the edge of the woods, no questions asked, he would have had to walk to this shindig.


	9. The Music Makes Me Sway

Caleb took her to a bar named Nicky's. Sarah had been a little worried at first that they wouldn't be able to get in—they were underage after all—but the place was filled with classmates from Spenser. "Teen night," Caleb told her as he guided her through the crowd to where Kate and Chase were already sitting.

The look Kate gave her when Sarah sat down was easy enough to read—her roommate wanted to know absolutely everything about her day with Caleb as soon as they got back to the dorms. Sarah was a little curious about Kate's afternoon with Chase herself. The new boy looked up from his menu to give her a smile in greeting as she shrugged out of her jacket. He and Kate looked like they'd been flirting pretty heavily before she and Caleb joined them.

Then Pogue showed up, and the air fairly crackled with unspoken jealousy that only dissipated when Caleb and Chase started up a rowdy game of Foosball and Pogue wandered over to join Reid and Tyler at the pool table. Unfortunately, that left her feeling alone and left out at the table.

She'd been playing the sweet girl all day, and looking at Kate, she suddenly had the feeling that it was going to take more than sweet to hold on to one of the Sons of Ipswich. So…a quarter in the jukebox and she was shaking her stuff, dragging Caleb out onto the itty-bitty dance floor with her. As they danced, she watched his eyes—she still couldn't tell if he was enjoying this or merely humoring her. He certainly wasn't giving her his full attention, not even when she swayed in close to him, her breasts brushing against his chest and her hips grinding into his.

Inscrutable. An SAT word but she'd found a real life example of it, and she wasn't sure she was happy about that.


	10. We Are Alone With You

It was frighteningly easy to evade Pogue's so unsubtle interrogation, kick his ass at Foosball, and watch Sarah gyrate around Caleb. The stupid boy didn't even seem to understand just what the blonde was offering him—she was sex on kitten heels, hiking up her rather demure floral skirt to show long stretches of creamy leg. If it had been Chase over there, he would have joined in the dance with her rather than just standing there like a statue, letting her move around him. Of course, if he were the one dancing with Sarah, the dance would probably end in the alleyway with her legs around his waist.

But the time wasn't right yet. He had to let the two of them get closer—had to let her squirm her way into Danvers' heart—before he tried anything.

Kate, on the other hand…

If her boyfriend knew what they'd gotten up to in the darkened movie theater, _he'd_ be the one meeting Chase in the alley.


	11. Savoring This Heart That's Healing

Like a good son, he ran his mother's weekly errands. Caleb didn't know why they still bothered to attribute them to his mom since he'd been running them since she'd purchased the Mustang for him on his sixteenth birthday. It was a pretense, like so much else in their lives. A carefully constructed façade that had to be maintained or else.

But all that melted away as Sarah stepped out from behind a shelf in the drugstore and flashed him that dazzling smile. Caleb had been in love before…or so he thought. Now, in the face of what he was feeling for this girl who he'd just met the night before, he wasn't quite sure. Sure, asking her to come with him as he finished his errands was as lame as Reid's line to her last night, but he had the sudden urge to spend the entire day with her.

But she agreed to come, lameness aside, and gave him another of those smiles that managed to be both shy and flirty at the same time.


	12. Burning, I'm Not Used to Seeing You

Ok, Caleb thought as he tried to stifle a laugh, they were going to have to get Reid some new lines. Because, seriously, telling this girl—Sarah—that she reminded him of his grandmother was lame. And more than a little creepy given Reid's grandma-issues. He'd definitely struck out with that one.

But still, Caleb felt a little guilty as he informed her that she in no way, shape, or form reminded him of his grandmother. For one, he was pretty sure neither of his grandmothers had tribal suns tattooed on the small of their backs. Or smiles that seemed to light up the night more than the nearby bonfire.


	13. I'm Alive; I'm Alive

Tyler understood the consequences of using. He'd seen Caleb's dad wither away until he looked over a hundred years old at just the age of forty-four. He knew that in a few short months, he'd have more power that he could dream of, and that it would call to him, begging him to use it. He feared that when the time came, he wouldn't have the strength to tell the Power "no".

Because how could he deny himself something that made him feel so alive?


	14. I Am Alone, and They Are Too With You

Caleb didn't dance. Just as a general rule. His gracefulness in the water didn't translate well onto the dance floor. But he was perfectly happy to watch Sarah dance around him. Her smile—it was infectious.

If only he didn't have to keep an eye on Reid and Tyler at the same time. They were over in the corner with Aaron and his boys, and he just knew they were using their Power to hustle them at pool. A fight was inevitable. Pogue had gone over there but didn't seemed to have defused the situation any.

He sighed and wished again that he could give Sarah his complete and undivided attention. Because she deserved it. But like so many other things in his life, there was only so much he could do.


	15. Into Our Secret Place

Caleb flinched in spite of himself when Gorman fired the rifle. The shot cracked through the small clearing around his ancestral home. "It's just me!" he shouted to the old caretaker. He didn't know why he'd brought Sarah out here. Only known her a day and already he was bringing her within spitting distance of his darkest secrets.

He didn't take her in though. Gorman wouldn't have stood for it. The old man was charged with protecting not only the old house but the Covenant's seat of power. Beneath the homestead, in a natural cave, was the room where his ancestors had met in council. The decision to form the Covenant and to hide their powers from the other colonists had been made in that cellar. Now, it was a sort of clubhouse for Caleb and his friends. They kept the Book of Damnation—the history of their lines dating back to the old Ipswich colony—down there. It was the only truly safe place to talk about the Power.

Caleb didn't go downstairs though, as much as he wanted to. He'd rather spend the afternoon flipping through the Book than go upstairs. He was careful not to look towards the hearth and the wing-back chair that sat in front of it as he gave the medicine he'd picked up from the pharmacy to Gorman.

The caretaker was gruff as usual, but Caleb could see a softening in the corners of the old man's eyes as they chatted. Gorman was a Parry, like Pogue, but a second son who'd been put up for adoption so he wouldn't have to grow up in the shadow of an older brother blessed with the Power. The old man still used the name of his adopted parents—Twoberry—even though he now knew the truth. He was the perfect secret-keeper for the Covenant.


End file.
